Broadband service expansion timeline, costs presented to supervisors prior to Closed Session, including discussion of ‘abolition’ of a sanitary district and non-annexation agreement with Town

Reports from several outside agencies and contractors dominated Tuesday morning’s Warren County Board of Supervisors meeting, prior to adjournment to a multi-topic closed Executive Session.

Those reports began with a status report on processes and scheduling of the Regional Broadband Services Expansion Initiative guided by provider All Points Broadband the County signed onto last year, joining seven other regional communities.

Other reports included an update on moves toward compliance with state or federal mandates on implementation of “Best Practices” policies through the Lord Fairfax Soil and Water Conservation District regarding pollution in the Shenandoah River as it impacts the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort; the monthly update of Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) work around the county; and a state-required formal update on the County’s Performance Contract and financing of services provided by the Northwestern Community Services Board related to its intent to borrow $2.2-million in funding to acquire a property in Page County for the establishment of an outpatient clinic there. The meeting agenda was amended so that latter report from the NWCSB originally scheduled for a post-meeting work session, could be delivered earlier in the day. That rescheduling was fortunate, as the work session was cancelled in the wake of the power outage at the WCGC.

The remainder of work session updates on various projects is rescheduled for 3 p.m., Friday.

County supervisors listen as NSVRC Director Brandon Davis summarizes dynamics of 8-jurisdiction broadband service expansion project scheduled for completion in July 2025. Davis called the project ‘the largest broadband (expansion) project in Virginia’s history”.

There were no public hearings or new business on the meeting agenda, and other than the above-cited reports, just a 19-item Consent Agenda to precede a five-topic Closed Executive Session. The board pulled two of the Consent Agenda topics for additional discussion. Those were approval of the extension of the county public schools contract for use of the Santmyers Youth Center for the
“Elements Program” for an additional year; and authorization for a public hearing on a text amendment to the county zoning codes to allow Data Centers as a by-right use in Light Industrial-zoned areas.

After some discussion of future plans for youth centers in the community, the board unanimously approved the extension of the Santmyers Youth Center contract for the Elements Program. That program helps special needs students transition post-graduation towards adulthood, according to staff information in the agenda packet.

However, after expressions of concern by board Chair Cheryl Cullers about the “by-right” aspect of the zoning text amendment regarding data centers, on the recommendation of County Administrator Ed Daley, the board tabled a decision on that matter. Daley explained that additional time would allow the matter to go to public hearing before the planning commission for a recommendation, which has not yet occurred as is the normal process on planning matters. The remainder of the Consent Agenda featuring authorization to advertise public hearings on six short-term-tourist rental requests, was approved as amended without dissent.

With the chair’s concerns about approving a zoning text amendment ‘by right’ uneased by its application to only Light Industrial Districts, County Administrator Ed Daley, left, suggested delaying action until a recommendation comes from the planning commission following their delayed public hearing. The board unanimously agreed. In the wake of two closed session topics, it appears County Attorney Jason Ham, right, and staff, may get a workload increase in the not-too-distant future.

Lengthy Closed Session
Following its discussion and votes on the above-mentioned pulled Consent Agenda items, the board adjourned to a five topic closed Executive Session at 11:55 a.m., after which no action was taken. It was estimated the closed session adjourned around 2:30 p.m. after a power outage hit the government center. Perhaps most interesting among those closed-door topics were “the abolition of a sanitary district and the Voluntary Settlement Agreement with the Town of Front Royal.”

With variables involving current issues with the Shenandoah Farms Sanitary District management and project financing a matter of ongoing closed session board discussion, it would appear the potential of “abolition” of the Farms Sanitary District has been added to that discussion. The 1999 Voluntary Settlement Agreement involved expansion of Town central utility services into the County’s north corridor to facilitate commercial development north of the I-66 interchange without the necessity of a contested annexation battle between the Town and County over portions of the corridor.

Looks like things could be poised to get interesting on a variety of legal fronts for the county government in coming months.

When do I get my broadband service upgrade?

Of interest to what was cited as 2,110 “unserved sites” in poor broadband reception areas in Warren County is a project completion date in July 2025, with physical installation work beginning in the second quarter of 2023. The project involving eight communities, half those in the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC) service area, was called “the largest broadband (expansion) project in Virginia’s history”. It involves eight communities, which in addition to Warren County which authorized participation in June of 2021, includes Frederick, Clarke, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham, Fauquier and Augusta Counties.

NSVRC Director Brandon Davis noted a nearly $97-million grant through the Department of Housing and Community Development towards what he cited as a $300-million investment by the involved communities, their private-sector partners, and governmental agencies that will involve 41,000 “pathings” and over 3700 miles of fiber to be laid over the three-years of infrastructure development, as cited above now scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2023, with a targeted completion date by the end of July 2025.

Davis introduced remotely linked All Points Broadband Director of Governmental Affairs Kyle Rosner, who traced his company’s logistical path in coordinating development of the huge project.

That project involves, as Davis noted in introducing Rosner, partnerships with utility providers Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, and Dominion Energy Virginia. Rosner noted that all private-sector developmental contracts were in place as of July 26, as the project prepares to transition from the recruitment and planning stages to the nearly three years of infrastructure development.

After summarizing the broadband service expansion project, NSVRC Director Brandon Davis introduced All Points Broadband’s Director of Governmental Affairs Kyle Rosner, linked in remotely below. Rosner covered timeline and cost update details and responded to questions about project marketing and manpower variables.

“As part of this project, the private sector investment in this is over $140 million. When you think about the amount of infrastructure that’s being laid – yea, the state is putting up a big piece of it, which we are very thankful for – but also the private sector is taking some risk here as well. It doesn’t work unless folks sign up for it,” Davis told the county supervisors.

That led to discussion of ongoing dissemination of relevant information in targeted areas to potential customers throughout the county, and region. Rosner pointed to the twice-a-year scheduled presentations to involved county boards, more if requested, as well as public events that will be scheduled as the infrastructure work progresses through the involved counties, as well as media coverage further getting the word out on how to participate for currently unserved broadband citizens.

“I think the number one thing, folks will see us in the field when we are constructing the network, folks will know because they’ll see it on the electric poles. They’ll see a lot of activity in the county.

And then eventually our sales team will move in and be very aggressive in our marketing and sales to insure that every resident in Warren County, whether they want to know or not, will know that

All Points Broadband is bringing fiber broadband to the unserved portions of Warren County. So, the challenge is going to be, probably not getting the word out – but managing expectations, because everybody needs it – ‘and I wish we had it yesterday’,” Rosner explained of an evolving process accompanying the 2023 to 2025 infrastructure development project versus the hope of those in need of the upgrades for a quick turnaround on receiving that service upgrade.

South River and board Chair Cullers recounted her experience being in a statistically unserved area and acquisition of information as the project has been in the planning and developmental stages. “So, it was a real easy process (to access the information). And on my end to make sure, Dr. Daley and I went on Mike McCool’s and did a little video (Royal Examiner Publisher Mike McCool’s Town Talk series) to get the information out. And I just went knock on doors handing out a paper: this is what you need to do; here’s the information. I put my card on it … and since then I’ve been getting a lot of calls and emails of course – ‘When’s this going to happen? When’s this going to happen?’ since December, Cullers observed of her experience of managing constituent expectations.

Addressing “service levels and affordability” Rosner pointed to his company’s involvement in a federal “affordable connectivity program” of $30 per month for qualifying customers. He said the program can be searched online for information on qualifying standards, and will be posted on the company’s website, as well as available from federal sites. While he noted an undiscounted “standard installation fee” of $199, he pointed to discounted prices of $59.99 tied to a 50×50 program involving upload speeds. He also presented charts with standard versus various discounted costs.

Above, some of those cost variables at standard vs. discount costs; below, a chart of targeted under or unserved broadband areas of Warren County scheduled to receive high-speed broadband service by mid-2025. Other involved communities are Clarke, Frederick, Fauquier, Rockingham, Page, Rappahannock, and Augusta Counties.

North River Supervisor Delores Oates pointed to “a staffing shortage in this country” wondering if that could become an issue in the project hitting its timeline milestones.

“We’re going to be contracting out a large, if not all, majority of the construction work. So, that’s not going to be All Points employees, that’s going to be fiber-construction vendors,” Rosner began, pointing to his company’s position in the state marketplace on this type of work: “We’re a big customer and we pay competitive rates. We have a ton of work, not only on this project, but all around the state. We’ve already developed great relationships with big vendors through our project in the Northern Neck that we’re building currently. So, we feel very confident that we can mitigate those challenges … and meet all the milestones we put forth.”

“Thank you,” Oates said in response to that detailed reply indicating that All Points Broadband wasn’t just going to flip a coin when the time came to see if it had the labor in place to achieve what it has promised time-wise on the infrastructure expansion side of the project.

See this presentation and board discussion in its entirety, along with the other above-cited presentations in the County video.